Gymnema.'] xcv. ASCLEPIADEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 29 



Column short; anther-tips small, membranous ; pollen-masses one in each cell, 

 ovoid-oblong 1 , waxy, pedicelled, erect. Stigma large, conical, clavate or capitate, 

 exserted. Follicles slender or turgid, terete, smooth, acuminate. Seeds comose. 

 DISTRIB. Species 25 ; Asiatic, African, and Australian. 



* Corolla-tube short, with fleshy coronal processes on the throat, the free 

 points of which (except in rotundatum) protrude above the sinus, and are 

 produced downwards on the tube as double villous ridges. Bracts obsolete. 



1. G-. sylvestre, Br. in Mem. Wern. Soc. i. 33; branches slender and 

 petioles cymes and sepals finely closely pubescent, leaves 1-2^ in. elliptic or 

 obovate acute rarely cordate glabrous or puberulous beneath, cymes small 2-nate 

 peduncled nearly *flat, corolla i in. diam. lobes glabrous, follicles slender 

 glabrous, seeds narrow. Wight Contrib. 44, and Ic. t. 349 ; Wall. Cat. 8184 A; 

 Dak. $ Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 151 ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PL 120; Dene, in DC. Prodr. 

 viii. 621. G. melicida, Edgew. Banda Fl. 50. Periploca sylvestris, Willd. Sp. 

 PI. i. 1252. Asclepias geminata, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 20, and Fl. Ind. ii. 45. 



BANDA, Edgcworth. DECCAN PENINSULA ; from the Concan to Travancore. 

 DISTRIB. Trop. Africa. 



A stout large woody climber. Leaves rarely pubescent above,, thinly coriaceous ; 

 petiole slender or stout, \-\ in. Cymes ^ in. diam., subglobose, pedicels slender. 

 Corolla-lobes short. Follicles 2-3 by ^ in., terete, rigid. Seeds | in. long, narrowly 

 ovoid-oblong, flat with a broad thin wing, pale brown. The leaves in Wight's figure 

 are unusually large. 



VAR. ceylanica ; leaves ovate base cordate softly pubescent on both surfaces. Gr. 

 sylvestre, var. Decaisneana, Thw. Enum. 197, excl.syn. Ceylon, ascending to 3000ft. 



2. Cr. hirsutum, Wight fy Am. Contrib. 44 ; branches petioles leaves on 

 both surfaces and cymes densely softly pubescent, leaves 1-2| in. broadly ovate 

 or cordate acute or acuminate, cymes 2-nate subsessile few- or many-fld., corolla 

 ^ in. diam., lobes thick ciliolate, follicles slender glabrous. Wight Ic. t. 1272 ; 

 Wall. Cat. 8185 ; Dene, in DC. Prodr. viii. 622. G. Decaisneanum, Wight Ic. 



t. 1271. 



BEHAR; at Rotas, J. D. H. ; Nilgherry Mts., Wight, &c. 



Much stouter than G. sylvestre, with broader more'ovate and cordate leaves softly 

 pubescent on both surfaces with shorter thicker petioles, and much larger flowers, in 

 more sessile cymes with shorter thicker pedicels. The Behar specimen is in fruit only 

 and may belong to G. sylvestre, though the leaves are pubescent on both surfaces. I 

 have seen no ripe seeds of the Nilgherry plants. In Wight's figure of G. Decaisneana, 

 the leaves are glabrous above, which is opposed to his description and specimens. The 

 distinctions he indicates between this and hirsutum do not exist. 



3. Cr. molle, Wall, in Wight Contrib. 45, and Cat. 8186 ; branches petioles 

 reaves beneath and cymes finely pubescent, leaves ovate oblong or cordate acute 

 or acuminate, cymes subsessile dense-fid., corolla $ in. diam. lobes ciliate, 

 follicles woody broad turgid below the middle pubescent, seeds ovate. Dene, in 

 DC. Prodr. viii. 622. 



UPPER BURMA ; Irawaddi, near the Petroleum wells, and at Taong-dong, Wattich. 



A stout climber. Leaves very variable, some 2-2 by l-l in., others 3 in. and 

 as broad, deeply cordate, above glabrous or. .puberulous ; petiole slender, -| | in. 

 Cymes small, irregular. Sepals hirsute. Corolla-lobes thickened, glabrous. Follicles 

 2|-3 in., f-1 in. bread at the thickest part. Seeds % in. long, very different from 

 those of the preceding species. This is very near the Chinese G. affine, Dene. ((?. 

 parviftorum, Wall. Tent. Fl. Nep. 50), which has broad seeds and similar follicles, 

 but the flowers are larger. Though Upper Burma is beyond British India, the species 

 is so likely to be found in the letter that I (as in like instances) introduce it. 



